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Maya Jama says talking openly about mental health helped her address a “spiral” of traumatic childhood events

'I was three years old when my dad went to prison and then he was in and out through the rest of my life,' said Jama

Sophie Gallagher

Wednesday 29 July 2020 16:17 BST

Jürgen Klopp, Jesse Lingard, Maya Jama, and others have opened up about their mental health to mark the FA Cup Final on Saturday, which is partnered with the Heads Up campaign for the first time.

The Duke of Cambridge has been spearheading Heads Up, a campaign to raise awareness of mental health and open discussion about wellbeing, since August 2019.

Now, to mark the end of the 2020 football season, current former football players, managers and famous sports fans have spoken about their personal experiences, aiming to help men in particular, and make them feel more comfortable and confident in reaching out for support.

Three instalments of the six-part #SoundofSupport interview series were released on Thursday, with two more expected on Friday 31 July, and a final film on Saturday – the morning of the final.

The first set of films focuses on a conversation between Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp and player Andy Robertson, Manchester United player Jesse Lingard and Maya Jama, and Manchester City players İlkay Gündoğan and Phil Foden.

Talking about mental health, Klopp said: “[It] helps if you don’t feel all the burden on your own shoulders. If you have a group of friends or a group of colleagues and you can create an atmosphere like this, that helps...

"I think there is no problem big enough or small enough that you cannot talk about it.”

Robertson said: “When I started making it professional, I think that’s when I struggled the most. I think only since the last year or two, since we’ve had kids and that then I’ve started to open up more. I used to be one that blocked everything up, I thought my problems are my problems.”

Meanwhile, Jesse Lingard was joined by Maya Jama in Stockport where they discussed family life, anxiety and performance pressures.

In the film, Lingard said: “Last season, I was going through some things off the field with my family so it was difficult for me to perform on the field. I’m very family orientated and my mum was going through some things last year with depression so in the meantime, I had to look after my little brother and sister who’s 12 and 15.

“You just get to that point where you’re like, I’ve got to actually say something. I spoke to my family and stuff like that. It felt so much better.”

16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Show all 16

1/1616 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Stormzy

Stormzy told Channel 4 in 2017 that by opening up about his depression he hoped to help others. "I think for them to see I went through it would help," the BRIT-award-winning musician said. "For a long time I used to think that soldiers don’t go through that. You know? Like, strong people in life, the bravest, the most courageous people, they don’t go through that, they just get on with it...and that’s not the case."

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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Robert Pattinson

Twilight star Robert Pattinson told The Telegraph he struggled with depression for a period of time. “'I had a bit of a struggle at first because my life really contracted and I couldn't do a lot of the stuff I used to be able to do." He advised aspiring Hollywood actors to "take care" of your mental health. "If you get as famous as quickly as I did, your personal growth stops suddenly.”

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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Michael Phelps

Former American swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history, experienced periods of depression and suicidal feelings. He told Today in 2018: "After years and years and years of just shoving every negative, bad feeling down to the point where I mean, I just didn't even feel it anymore...and for me, that sent me down a spiral staircase real quick and like I said, I found myself in a spot where I didn't want to be alive anymore."

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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Zayn Malik

Zayn Malik told The Sunday Times Style magazine about suffering with an eating disorder and anxiety. "We’re all human. People are often afraid to admit difficulties, but I don’t believe that there should be a struggle with anything that’s the truth," said the former One Direction singer. "If you were a guy, you used to have to be really masculine, but now expressing emotion is accepted and respected.’

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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Will Young

Singer Will Young has spoken about his experience with suicidal thoughts. "There's a part of my brain that is telling me that you're about to die, [so] you either shut down, freeze or you run. The only thing I can do is go to bed." He said that without the help of his therapist he probably would have been successful in his suicide attempts. “I have so many mental thoughts in my head: ‘You’re never going to sing again’. ‘That was a s*** dance move.’ ‘They’re hating you.’”

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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Professor Green

After his father took his own life in 2008, rapper Professor Green started speaking openly about his mental health problems and the pressure on men to be strong. “We have to figure out a way that men can talk to one another and figure out how to make themselves feel better,” he told theiNews. Although he is pleased to "start conversations" Green warns how becoming a mental health spokesperson can be high pressure. “It’s difficult because sometimes you’re having a great day, then someone comes up and tells you something absolutely horrific; I’m not a psychologist and it’s really hard."

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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Donald Glover

American actor, comedian, writer and musician Donald Glover, who performs under the name Childish Gambino told Vice in 2013 he'd been through periods of depression following the end of his tour. "I was just super depressed. I mean, I tried to kill myself. I was really fucked up after that [tour], because I had this girl that I thought I was going to marry and we broke up. I didn’t feel like I knew what I was doing. I wasn’t living up to my standard, I was living up to other people’s standards, and I just said ‘I don’t see the point'.”

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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Shawn Mendes

Shawn Mendes told People magazine that talking about his mental health problems was the "scariest" thing he's ever done. "I still struggle with it but just remember every day that everyone deals with some level of anxiety or pressure; we're all in it together." He told The Sun in 2018: "All pain is temporary, and the thing is with anxiety, and why it's such a hard thing for people who don't have it to understand."

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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Jim Carrey

Comedian and actor Jim Carrey told iNews that he had struggled with depression throughout his life. “At this point, I don’t have depression. I had that for years, but now, when the rain comes, it rains, but it doesn’t stay. It doesn’t stay long enough to immerse me and drown me anymore.”

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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Pete Wentz

Fall Out Boy frontman Pete Wentz has spoken openly about his bipolar disorder diagnosis and other mental health problems. He said that it took him to reach breaking point before asking for help. "My best piece of advice, more than anything, is that there's other people out there that feel [suicidal], or are feeling that right at that time," he said. "Maybe your favorite actor, or a guy in a band, or whoever, there are people who feel that exact same thing and have made it through that. I would say more than anything, you're not alone in it."

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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Jon Hamm

"I struggled with chronic depression," Mad Men star Jon Hamm told The Guardian in 2010. "I did do therapy and antidepressants for a brief period, which helped me." Hamm said medication helped change his "brain chemistry" enough so he could get out of bed. "I don't want to sleep until four in the afternoon. I want to get up and go do my shit and go to work," he says.

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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Rob Delaney

Catastrophe actor and comedian Rob Delaney, who lost his son Henry to brain cancer in January 2018, said he has long struggled with depression and encouraged others in the same position to seek help. "Asking for help is strong because it leads directly to staying alive," he says. "Not asking for help is as fear-based a decision as a human being can make and can lead you swiftly in a bad direction. It's not exaggerating to say that path can end in death."

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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson

Dwayne Johnson has spoken on numerous occasions about mental health. On ITV's Lorraine Kelly he said: "Depression doesn't discriminate, and I thought that was an important part of the narrative if I was going to share a little bit of my story of the past. Regardless of who you are or what you do for a living or where you come from, it doesn't discriminate, we all kind of go through it. If I could share a little bit of it and if I could help somebody, I'm happy to do it."

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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Ryan Reynolds

"I have anxiety, I've always had anxiety," the Deadpool actor told the New York Times in 2018. "Both in the lighthearted ‘I’m anxious about this’ kind of thing, and I’ve been to the depths of the darker end of the spectrum, which is not fun.” Reynolds said he went through a period of partying to try and make himself "vanish" in some way and would frequently suffer with anxiety-related insomnia.

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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce 'The Boss' Springsteen told Esquire magazine in 2018 that although he wouldn't describe himself as being mentally unwell, he has "come close enough" and takes medication to cope. "I’m on a variety of medications that keep me on an even keel; otherwise I can swing rather dramatically and the wheels can come off a little bit.”

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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health

Prince Harry

Prince Harry has been a vocal supporter of mental health campaigns like 'Time To Talk'. He also has spoken openly about his own problems following the death of his mother, Princess Diana. He told The Telegraph: “I have probably been very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions when all sorts of grief and sort of lies and misconceptions and everything are coming to you from every angle." Harry said there was "huge merit" in talking about your issues and keeping quiet only makes things worse.

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Maya said how talking openly helped her address a “spiral” of traumatic events in her childhood. She said: “I was three years old when my dad went to prison and then he was in and out through the rest of my life. And then when I was sixteen, my boyfriend was murdered. I moved to London and then had to live with a family member but they were on drugs.

“For a while I used to be embarrassed about talking about it. But then as I got older, I realised – me sharing this there’s going to be so many people who’ve gone through similar things... Once you see somebody having that conversation it’s like ‘Ah ok, it’s not that bad, I can do that too.”

On Tuesday Prince William appeared on BBC Five Live’s That Peter Crouch Podcast, to discuss his own mental health in the lead up to the FA Cup Final.

Heads Up is working with charity partners Mind, CALM, Heads Together and Sporting Chance to make sure everyone can find the support they need. For 24/7 support, you can text ‘HeadsUp’ to 85258 to connect with a trained crisis volunteer who will chat to you by text message.

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